The Interior DIYer
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Curio cabinet collection

It’s been nearly 2 years since I got my curio cabinet and up until last week, it was empty. I wanted to fill it with a collection but as you may be able to guess, I wasn’t sure exactly what that collection should be. 

I do find I like to collect things that I’ll never really use [washi tape, wrapping paper, feathers, small boxes, cat whiskers, wine corks] so I’ve been trying to stop collecting things so uselessly. Except, last week I cleaned out a small round jar [seen on the top shelf to the left] and I really liked it and I just wanted to keep it. It’s just a small jar! So innocent. So I put it in my curio cabinet. Then I washed two mini jam jars and added them too. And a few tiny bottles of emergency baby food. And, oh, look how cute they all look together! They all had different coloured lids which was irking me, so late last night I spray painted the lids gold and semi organised them and I think it looks quite nice! And it immediately justifies one of my [many] useless collections. 
Do you have any weird or unusual collections? Or do you share a passion of hoarding something slightly more normal like small boxes like I do? I get that from my mom so it’s in my DNA so that makes it okay. 

Also check out – updated curio cabinet
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Giving an IKEA Ribba picture ledge a faux marble update

Hands up who’s tired of me faux marbling things? I’m afraid today I’m sharing a few pictures and the process of the latest unfortunate piece to be overcome by my mediocre marbling skills.

Going back quite a while, perhaps even before Cora was born, someone left a 6ft long IKEA Ribba picture ledge in our communal underground garage ‘free to a good home‘ refuse area. I used [albeit smaller] Ribba ledge’s in my brothers office update a few years ago and I really enjoyed how useful they are for styling [and restyling] a space without having to put a dozen holes in a wall. I brought the new to me ledge up to our apartment and there it sat, in the corner of our bedroom, for a very long time.

Someone had painted the picture ledge in a dark grey wall paint [ie – a paint in no way suitable for furniture], so I found it quite satisfying scraping off all the paint with an old library card. Once the picture ledge was clean, I painted it in four coats of white furniture paint. I knew for along time that I wouldn’t keep it as it’s original black as it was too close to the colour of our bedroom walls. I wanted the ledge to stand out from the wall and I figured, seeing as I faux marbled our bedside tables, I might as well see if I could do the same to the picture ledge. Matchy can sometimes be good [while also not being too matchy].

I used the same technique that I used when painting our bedside tables [see my tutorial here!] but in smaller amounts. The truth is that I didn’t have time to give it the same amount of detail as our bedside tables since I wanted it done during one of Cora’s naps. There’s nothing that will make you paint faster than the threat of a hungry baby. 
I honestly didn’t know how it would turn out, but I’m really pleased with it. It doesn’t look like much now until I style it out a bit. It looks quite boring for, but it’s already done so much for the wall in our bedroom that is so awkward to hang things on. Not too bad for a free project! 
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Faux taxidermy from Felt Fauna by AC

We were to get good weather last Friday, so my brother and I planned to go with Cora to the Bloom in the Park festival. I had never been before this year, so I was curious to see what all the hype was about.   

It did not disappoint and we were surprised by how big the festival was. We had a great time eating too much food and wandering for hours. At one point, we walked into the craft village and that’s when I saw from afar, Ali’s stall. Felt Fauna by AC. When I saw her creatures I immediately headed straight for her stall while making a deeply unflattering sound, in a very Brick Tamland manner. 

Ali’s corner stall was filled with the most adorable and magical little felt creatures. From baboons to lions to tigers and bears, and all were made through needle felting techniques. The detail, realness and comical cuteness Ali put into each piece kept me jumping from one to another. There was no way I was going home without a little felt friend for Cora’s wall, but as I said to Ali, I had to walk around the festival to help me decide which one as they were all way too damn cute.

I came back an hour later, looked around her stall another 4 times, decided on a lovely grey elephant with a gold crown but at the last minute I changed my mind and brought home a cheeky little pink piglet [whose party hat I was able to swap with the elephant’s gold crown]. The little piglet had such a cute expression on their face that I just couldn’t resist. Plus, a little pink face would look so much better against Cora’s Pantone ‘Lunar Rock’ walls [and happily matched our Bill Murray framed print too]. 

I hung up little piglet [name TBC] the next morning and I could not be happier with his / her cheeky little grin smiling down on Cora when she’s in her crib. I mean, look at the little twinkle in their eye. Ali’s attention to detail is insane. She creates so many different types of creatures as well as does custom orders, I doubt this will be the only piece of hers we own. I’m just so glad I didn’t leave Bloom without our new felted friend.